The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (35 page)

Henry
’s voice was quiet. “But they are. And the men that killed them have gotten away with it. No one can stop them but you.”

Frustration poured out of her.
“Stop them? Henry, I don’t know how to use this thing. I have no special powers. I’m not like you, or Jen, or Amanda’s brother. I’m not one of you, no matter what Victoria says. I’m not special or super. I’m just normal.”

Henry was quiet for a moment.
“I think that might be the problem. You don’t believe you have the ability. You’re not really trying, because you don’t think it’s of any use.”

Laney wanted to argue with him, but she knew he was speaking at least part of the truth.
She
was
trying—but at the same time, she really didn’t believe it would work. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Henry turned her to face him.
“Laney, if my mother, our mother, is right, you are the ring bearer. How else could you have found the ring?”

Laney shrugged.

“And if Clark is right, Jake and Rocky are just the beginning. Amar and his army are going to rip through this world. And you are the only thing standing in their way.”

“
But Jake . . .”

“
Jake believed in you.
I
believe in you.”

“
What if I fail?”

“
What if you succeed?”

Laney expelled a breath.
She placed the ring back on her finger. “Okay. Let me try again.”

CHAPTER 78

L
aney spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get some sort of response from the ring. And all she had to show for it was a blinding headache.

Needing a break, s
he walked across the veranda, opened the French doors, and stepped into the kitchen. Rummaging through the cabinets, she found a bottle of water and some aspirin. She downed two pills, followed by a quick swallow of water, and leaned against the counter.

The lives of all those lost since she
’d learned about the Fallen flashed through her mind. Most prominent were the images of Drew, Rocky, and Jake.

Drew, her best friend
, whom she’d lost just before she’d learned about all of this.

Rocky
, who’d saved Laney’s life at the cost of her own.

And Jake.
Laney shuddered, her breaths coming out in gasps. She turned around, grasping the counter tightly as her knees weakened.
How can they all be gone?

The door to the kitchen opened behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder.

Standing in the doorway was a short, heavily muscled bald man with just a trace of Israel in his voice.
“Hey Lanes.”

Laney practically ran across the room.
“Yoni!”

Yoni
’s gorilla-like arms wrapped around her. “I’m so damn sorry, Laney.”

Laney felt Yoni
’s tears fall onto her neck. Yoni had been one of Jake’s closest friends. They’d been through SEAL training together, had shared years in the service, and then Yoni had followed Jake to the Chandler Group. Yoni had even made Jake his son’s godfather.

Laney and Yoni stayed locked together for a few minutes, sharing their loss.
Finally, they broke apart.

Laney grabbed some tissues from the box on the counter, offering Yoni some.

Unashamed, he took a handful, wiping at his tear-stained face.
“Do you know who did it?”

Laney shook her head.
“The person who took the shot? No. But we know who the guy is that ordered the hit. His name’s Amar Patel. He’s a Fallen.”

Yoni swore.
“When are we going after him?”

“
We don’t have any idea where he is. But there’s a mole in his group. The SIA agent is going to push him to see if he can find out where Amar is.”

“
SIA?” Yoni asked.

Laney explained about Agent Clark and the group
’s objectives.

“
Well, great. Nothing more trustworthy then some men in black.”

Laney gave a little laugh.
“Well, so far they seem to be on the up and up.” She pictured Amanda’s face as she spoke about her brother. “And they have a good reason to do what they’re doing.”

Henry appeared in the doorway.
He nodded at Yoni. “We have a problem.”

Laney straightened away from the counter.
“What?”

“
Agent Clark just called. They’ve lost contact with Maddox.”

CHAPTER 79

L
aney paced the length of Henry’s long office. Yoni ran a similar track against the windows. Henry and Jen sat waiting. Clark was supposed to call them to fill them in on what was going on.

The wait was killing her.
If they’d lost Maddox, it would make tracking down Amar that much harder.

Amanda
’s face flashed through Laney’s mind.
And Amanda will have lost her brother.

Laney slammed her fist into her hand.
God damn it. Too many good people are getting killed. This can’t go on.

The screen above the conference table flashed to life.
Clark’s face appeared.

About time.
Laney strode over to the table. “What’s going on?”

Clark glanced across the room, his eyes settling on Yoni.
“Perhaps we should speak in private.”

Laney cut him off.
“This is Yoni Benjamin. He’s one of us. So what happened to Maddox?”

“
After Amanda and I left you, I contacted Maddox. I asked him to see if he could find out where Amar was. In the past, he’s told me that there’s some big compound where they meet. But he hadn’t been trusted with that information.” Clark fell silent.

“
And?” Henry urged.

“
Maddox got me the location.”

Relief flowed over Laney.
Finally, they had a target. “That’s great. Where is it?”

“
Tennessee, just outside Johnson City, on the border of North Carolina. I’ve sent you the coordinates.”

“
Great,” Laney said. “So let’s get started on an assault plan.”

Clark nodded.
“I’ve already started calling in my agents, getting the gear and transports ready. We should be good to go in about twelve hours.”

“
I’ll start pulling my resources as well. We’ll be ready,” Henry said.

Laney glanced at the screen.
For someone who had been tracking down Amar for years, Clark didn’t exactly seem excited about finally catching him. “What about Maddox?”

“
He missed his check-in.”

“
Has that happened before?”

“
By a few minutes maybe.”

“
How long has it been?” Henry asked.

Fear splashed across Clark
’s face for just a moment, but Laney caught it. “Two hours.”

CHAPTER 80

Johnson City, Tennessee

A
mar sat in his throne chair, at the heavy wood table that dominated the darkened dining room. The rest of the chairs were empty. Amar took a last bite of his Cornish game hen and placed his silverware on the plate.

Wiping his hands on the linen napkin, he pushed back a little from the table, his hands on his stomach.
“Well, that was delicious.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the two men standing guard at the door.
Unlike the guards at the barn, these two were his brethren. “After we’re finished here, you boys should go get yourself something to eat.”

The dark
-haired one nodded at him. “Thank you, sir. We will.”

Amar waved away the words.
“Well, I suppose that’s it for the pleasant portion of the evening. Let’s bring in our guest.”

The dark
-haired guard nodded again before disappearing through the doorway with his blond companion.

Amar inspected the tapestry
that hung on the wall to his right. It was one of the
Unicorn Tapestries
: “The Unicorn in Captivity.” Most of the tapestries hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This one depicted the death of the legendary animal.

Amar liked to keep it around to remind him
of the fragility of his own existence. And of the importance of loyalty among his followers.

There was shouting from the hall
. The two guards reappeared in the doorway, a man in shackles held between them.

They
shoved the man inside, and he sprawled across the floor, landing right next to Amar’s chair.

Amar held out his hand and one of the guards handed him a phone.
Amar brought up the text messages. He clicked on the most recent, turning it around so his captive could see it:

Shady Creek Farm, Johnson City
, Tennessee.

Amar glanced down at the
man’s bruised face and watched as it healed. “Hello, Maddox. I hear you’ve been a bad boy.”

CHAPTER 81

Baltimore, Maryland

L
aney closed her phone and walked back down to her cottage. She stopped at a bench on the path—she needed to sit down for a minute. Her uncle had tried to sound strong when she spoke with him, but she knew Rocky’s death had hit him hard.

But there was something else in his voice
, something more. She knew him so well. There was something he wasn’t telling her. She shook her head. She simply didn’t have the energy to figure out what it could be right now.

That
was the last phone call she had to make for the time being. She’d already spoken with Jake’s brother Tom, Rocky’s mom, and Rocky’s partner, Detective Mike Chapman. All of them had been shocked and demanded answers. Answers she couldn’t give them.

Rocky
’s and Jake’s images swam through her mind for the umpteenth time. And with them came the familiar punch to the gut
. Too many people are dying
. Laney took a breath, stood, and continued down the path toward her cottage.

She knew Henry and Clark were
off making plans for uniting their two forces. Jen had stepped out to call her brothers. And Yoni—well, Laney wasn’t sure where Yoni had disappeared to. Laney had used everyone else’s distractions to slip out on her own.

Once again, all those who had died since this insanity began flashed through her mind.
A never-ending tide of death. She pictured the Shuar and all they had lost last year, Kati’s husband, King Julian, Drew, Jake, Rocky.

Glancing at her ring, she blew out a breath.
“And you and I are supposed to defeat all the super-powered bad guys.”

Amanda
’s face appeared in her mind. But this time she pictured what Amanda would look like after hearing of her brother’s death. Maddox had risked his life time and time again to save others. And they were going to wait twelve hours before trying to save him.

In her gut,
Laney knew he wouldn’t still be alive then. He’d be one more name on the list of people killed because of this insanity.

Slipping her hand into her pocket, she fingered the piece of paper with the location of Amar
’s group. It was a large farm on the outskirts of Johnson City, Tennessee.

From aerial photos, they knew it was a hundred and twenty
-three acres, but it didn’t have any noticeable security. Of course, seeing as it was populated by super-beings, they probably weren’t too concerned about random burglars.

The ring on Laney
’s hand felt heavy. She lifted it, watched the sunlight glint off of it. She’d found the ring. She’d been through the trials. Her Father was Enoch. She was supposed to be able to use the damn thing. Why wasn’t it working?

Maybe Henry was right.
She didn’t believe she was the one.

She shook her head.
Whether she believed it or not, she had to figure out how to make it work or this whole thing was going to be a waste of time. She was supposed to lead the army of good.